CodeBreakers Compendium of Custom Morphs

@Hoi all, thought you might be interested in a little something I scrapped from a confidential Mesh transmission out of Titan. Some background info for the uninitiated of you, CB Industries is one of the more exclusive labs working out of a semi-confidential hab somewhere high above the northern pole. Originally founded pre-Fall as a genetic research laboratory focusing on improving the natural human condition, it is rumored that they were forced off world when they where found to be in breach of ethic laws.

Since then they seem to of been hard at work pushing out hundreds of different biotic and synthetic Morphs, some you might of heard of like their Neo-Dolphin morphs that are used throughout the depths of Europa, and some you have almost certainly not heard of like their classified military grade Mini-Tanks. The following file is a few of the design specs that CB Industries was piping out to a client. Enjoy!

[collapse]Aquatic BioMorph CatalogueNeo-Dolphin – When the pioneers of Europa first drilled through the Ice Crust and delved into the freezing cold waters below they quickly found that they were in need of a Morph capable of exploring them with the ease that the aquatic animals of Earth did. CB Industries immediately saw the potential to make a profit and so quickly went to work filling the niche.Implants – Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Clean Metabolism, Circadian Regulation, Echolocation, Enhanced Respiration, Oxygen Reserve, Temperature Tolerance, Respirocytes.Aptitude Maximum – 30Durability – 30Wound Threshold – 6Advantages – Swimming (8/40), Limber (Level 1), + 5 to two aptitudes of the players' choice, +20 Swimming.Disadvantages – Movement on Land (2/6)CP Cost – 55Credit Cost – Expensive (40,000)

Aqua – During the initial ventures under the ice on Europa, many of the explorers found that they could not easily adapt to the Neo-Dolphin morphs that were being used as standard issue. Instead of limiting the already small number of people willing to go under the ice even further CB Industries developed a humanoid morph that was capable of performing just as well as its Neo-Dolphins.Implants – Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Respiration, Gills, Temperature Tolerance.Aptitude Maximum – 30Durability – 30Wound Threshold – 6Advantages – Swimming (4/20), +5 COO, +5 SOM, +10 Swimming.CP Cost – 40Credit Cost – Expensive (40,000)
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Mecha-Scorpio – Designed by the engineers of CB Industries to fulfil a contract issued by one of the many mercenary companies, the Mecha-Scorpio was initially used as the Morph of choice for assassinations and spy work. In recent years it has also been seen action in general military actions throughout the system, and at times beyond. Hardy, quick and deadly, the Mecha-Scorpio is more than capable of keeping pace with the popular Fury model and in some circumstances even out classing it.Implants – Access Jacks, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Grip Pads, Extra Limbs (8 Legs), Light Combat Armour, Mnemonic Augmentation, Neurachem (Level 1), Prehensile Tail, Implanted Nanotoxins (Necrosis), Medichines.Armour Mods – Chameleon Coating.Mobility System (Walking/Running) – Walker (4/20)Aptitude Maximum – 30Speed Modifier – +1 (Neurachem)Durability – 40Wound Threshold – 8Advantages – Stinger Attack (2d10DV, use Unarmed Combat Skill, applies Implanted Nanotoxins), +5 COO, +5 REF, +10 SOM, +5 to one aptitude of players' choice, 14/12 Armour.Disadvantages – Social Stigma (Military Mech).CP Cost – 80Credit Cost – Expensive (50,000 Rare)

Spoiler: Highlight to view

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[collapse]General CatalogueAres – An experiment in drug augmentation conducted by CB Industries, the Ares was designed to be a base line special-ops Morph that could easily be upgraded while in the field. Although it was initially well received by paramilitary forces throughout the system it quickly became apparent that its inherent addictions made it unreliable in combat. Even outside military circles the Ares is now seen as an unstable failure.Implants – Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Bioweave Armour (Light), Drug Gland (Kick), Drug Gland (MRDR), Emotional Dampers.Aptitude Maximum – 30Durability – 40Wound Threshold – 8Advantages – +10 COO, +5 REF, +5 SOM, +5 to one aptitude of the players' choice.Disadvantages – Addiction (Moderate Kick), Addiction (Moderate MRDR), Social Stigma.CP Cost – 35Credit Cost – Expensive

Neo-Feline – Before the Fall a small group of bioengineers thought it might be interesting to Uplift a few gene fixed litters of household cats to act as intelligent pets for their children. Unfortunately for them they did not predict that the newly Uplifted cats would not appreciate being treated like slaves and escaped into the general population. After a few years of breeding and mingling with the natural cat population they quickly increased their numbers to a stable population. When the Fall occurred many of these Uplifted cats managed to get Egocast into space. The Neo-Feline BioMorph is the Morph of choice for many of these displaced animals, and CB Industries is the only corporation with a license for the copyright. Implants – Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Claws, Prehensile Tail, Enhanced Pheromones.Aptitude Maximum – 25 (SOM 15)Durability – 20Wound Threshold – 4Advantages – Limber (Rank 1), +10 REF, +5 COO, +5 to one aptitude of the players' choice, Small (-10 to hit in combat).Disadvantages – Mild Addiction (Cat Nip)CP Cost – 30Credit Cost – Expensive

Neo-Canine – The sleeve of choice for the vast majority of canine uplifts across the system and beyond, this BioMorph was designed by CB Industries to house those uplifts who were lucky enough to be re-sleeved after the Fall.
Implants – Basic Biomods, Basic Mesh Inserts, Cortical Stack, Enhanced Hearing, Enhanced Smell, Enhanced Pheromones.Aptitude Maximum – 25 (SOM 15)Durability – 25Wound Threshold – 5Advantages – +5 INT, +5 REF, +5 to one aptitude of the players' choice, +10 to Perception, Bite Attack (1d10DV, use Unarmed Combat Skill).CP Cost – 30Credit Cost – Expensive
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Notes: Each BioMorph is made using the rules presented at http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=470503 . The Synthetic Morphs where made using the same system with some changed that I have been trying to work out. Note that the Morphs presented throughout the thread are not all up to date, so you might not want to use them as shown. Each Morph is balanced to the original rule set, the CP Costs follow the same pattern that the basic ones do. No ownership is claimed for any images used here.

Any suggestions on more Morphs are more than welcome, and any suggestions on how to improve the ones already done are just as welcome.

I don't think cats and dogs are smart enough to be capable of being uplifted to full sapience. Their brains are too small, and there's no way to change that without drastically changing their skull structures.

I don't think cats and dogs are smart enough to be capable of being uplifted to full sapience. Their brains are too small, and there's no way to change that without drastically changing their skull structures.

To be fair, we severely modified most of the races we did uplift. All but perhaps the primate uplifts are more massive than their non-sapient counterparts (uplifted birds are the size of children!), and we've even dramatically altered their physiologies (giving those same birds batwings, and octomorphs vocal chords), so increasing the size and shape of their heads isn't too far off from what we've already done with other species.

It should be considered that any uplift is likely to conform with the projected human standard due simply to culture shock. Not to insult fellow uplifts, but we are coming from a world of very limited communication to that of transhumanity. There's quite a bit of adaptation to achieve in a purely psychological sense. In light of this any uplift or even AGI in my games is required to take at least one psychological idiosyncrasy reflecting their origin (aquatics have a hydration obsession). Recommended reading, regarding this topic, includes David Brin's Uplift series and What's it Like to be a Bat by Thomas Nagel.

Silly question as it might be, but where is the reference to the Yiff Habitat? I've searched the corebook and Sunward PDFs, but both returned empty handed searches.

I don't think domestic cats could be uplifted to sentience, but what about bigger feline species? like the panther, the jaguar, the Bengali tiger, the lion.
just had that funny idea of a reverend to some exotic Post Fall "church" on an exoplanet (Echo IV, maybe?), and this peculiar reverend has a peculiar origin: he's an uplifted lion. His parishioners nicknamed him Reverend Arslan, based on the centuries old children classic.
(that had to be the FIRST priest I've ever depicted in a good light, ordinary, my priest NPCs are either bad guys or twisted neutral. that's especially true for my Lancea Sanctum npc in Requiem)

By the way, something came to mind considering the neo-hominids.
Are they human-like, as the Mobile Scientist character sample in Sunward, or do they concerve their ape look?
I was wondering because I have a few ape uplifts inspired from DC simian characters
for exemples:
-A Mercurial business"man" gorillah leading underhandly an anti-human uplift terrorist group, and a psi-Gamma level async.
-A french-speaking gorillah uplift mercenary working for a former Argonaut turned war criminal scientist sleeved in flexbot synthmorph. The flexbot was so damaged only the "head" bot remain.
-An albinos gorillah, working as a mentalist and proxy for Firewall. Apparently kind and benevolent, he's totally ruthless and will sacrifice any and all sentinels to fulfill Firewall's purpose for the Greater Good. He's also adept of multiple forking

Also, are police baboons gifted with speech? If just enough to have learned sentences like "Problems, sir!", "Yes, sir.", "No, sir", "I've found something, sir"

Avian-wise, is there any uplifted owl species? that came to mind for a couple of reasons. one is the teaser for Legend of the Guardians, and the second from a possible characters in my upcoming EP fanfiction Paradigm Shift

So the idea that there are some Uplifts from the Genus Panthera canonically. As to members of Genus Felis, I have to agree that some modification to their skull would probably be necessary.

Well... I don't think that "smart" should necessarily mean "uplifted". It might just mean, you know, smart. Like a police baboon smart.

Rather than sapient, "smart" could also be read as something stylish, voguish & chic. I think "smart"="stylish" is a better fit here; biased that those "smart" leopards were the metacelebrities guard dog pets.

I don't think cats and dogs are smart enough to be capable of being uplifted to full sapience. Their brains are too small, and there's no way to change that without drastically changing their skull structures.

How about taking a scan of cat's brain and identity-transfering it into a uplifted brain-making it intelligent, than changing back into infomorph and loading it into a implant module located in a normal cat that controls its brain via interface?

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Raise your hands to the sky and break the chains. With transhumanism we can smash the matriarchy together.

Rather than sapient, "smart" could also be read as something stylish, voguish & chic. I think "smart"="stylish" is a better fit here; biased that those "smart" leopards were the metacelebrities guard dog pets.

Fairly sure when they use Smart *Animal* they are referancing to the intelligence of the animal. Look at the Pets gear in Core. Each of the "partially uplifted and bio-engineered animals" that have "rudimentary intelligence and limited communication skills" is referred to as a Smart *Animal*. I take that to mean that these animals are at least as intelligent as a young child, with others being even more intelligent. *EDIT; This is supported by such Smart Animals having a COG of 5, which by the games own Aptitude scale is that of a Human child.

And on whether or not a Neo-Kitty (I rewrote my uplifts, the domesticated cat Morph is now the Neo-Kitty, big cats are now Neo-Feline, just finishing them up then I will be throwing them up somewhere) has enough brains to be uplifted seems a bit strange to me. Cats are, in general, fairly intelligent beasties. They are capable of limited tool use, communication skills, and they are trainable. The same can be said for the Raven and Octopi uplifts we already have. I also think space is not really an issue. If we are able to host an Ego is a dispersed Nanoswarm I think a dense cat brain should be about big enough. Perhaps I will change the Neo-Kitty so it is more about the size of the larger domesticated cat breeds, and specify in the description that the brain has been heavily modifed and whatnot.

How about taking a scan of cat's brain and identity-transfering it into a uplifted brain-making it intelligent, than changing back into infomorph and loading it into a implant module located in a normal cat that controls its brain via interface?

The way we worked it in my game was that the neo-felines were based on large housecat templates (Maine Coon) and then scaled up to support the appropriate amount of brain mass. The brain mass was then reworked for sufficient complexity, followed by reworking the metabolism to support it.

This is overkill info, but intelligence is something we still don't know much about in terms of where it is and what it looks like in the brain. The size of the brain doesn't tell you much about how intelligent an animal is, but rather how social it is. While it's true that social animals tend to be more intelligent by our standards, each and every animal is as intelligent as its environment requires it to be. (I've always been somewhat offended by the idea that humans are superior to animals for reasons of intelligence. We're hands-down the most adaptable species on our planet, but that doesn't make us the smartest if you ask me.)

If you were going to "uplift" an animal to have a human-equivalent level of situational adaptability, the animal would still not behave like a human. The most difficult part of that whole operation would be language. Language requires a huge amount of brain real estate. The animal that most closely mimics humans in its use of language is the gelada baboon, which chatters constantly to its neighbors instead of reinforcing bonds through grooming. Any other animal would have to have a completely fabricated language center, along with who knows what else.

My character is a novacrab. Crabs are nothing like humans in any way, but there is a cyberbrain in there and some sort of vocal apparatus has been attached. If you have players that want to play animals/furries, I think the novacrab approach is much more realistic than the "uplift" approach. You make a big old body of the appropriate shape and stick a cyberbrain in it. Bingo, novacat.

On the other hand, uplifting a dolphin or a raven would require just as much brain engineering as it would to uplift a cat or a dog. In fact, dogs would most likely require less work than a raven or a cat. They have a reputation for being goofy and dumb, but more than any other pet dogs are keyed in to our style of communication. A tiny puppy can understand human gestures and signals that even a grown chimp cannot, like pointing to a cup of food. So really, dogs are the most likely candidate for brain uplifting if you ask me.

In the end, this is science fiction and there are questions for which there won't be any answers until we know how to do all of this science irl. In my own games however, I'm going to advocate the use of cyberbrains whenever a player wants to take on an animal body, other than the ones expressly listed as uplifts (except for perhaps dogs of course).

The 'Hellsoldier'-class Heavy Combat Morph... well, to tell the truth, I haven't had much of an idea for a backstory (other that it was a heavy combat/Infiltration morph created shortly before the Fall and now produced in limited numbers by factions like the Lunarians for really tough missions) at this current moment.

The 'Hellsoldier'-Class Morph... well, it is essentially a Terminator. You know... 'It will not stop, *ever*, until you are *dead*!' Put a lot of bullets in it, blow it up, hit it with a speeding car, set it on fire-it'll keep on coming, battered and singed, but still lethal.

Of course, I suppose that it will be expensive (that is the only thing that I'm sure of, at this current moment).